Soave stands out in a cluttered industry for its unique approach to artist development and music distribution alongside its outlook toward the future of music. Founded on the principles of genuine music discovery and artist support, Soave began its journey as a blog, transforming into a label as it started to receive music submissions from artists who grew up in the era of SoundCloud. This transition marked the beginning of a new chapter, not just for the founder but for the artists who would benefit from Soave’s shift in focus towards platforms like Spotify.
The journey of building a catalog and signing artists is a story of strategic networking and genuine support. Soave’s founder, Jan Hendrik, leveraged years of personal music discovery, blogging, and engagement on platforms like SoundCloud and social media to build a network that would form the label’s backbone.
As Soave looks towards the future, it does so with a team of 25 core members, brought together by the catalyst of unforeseen global circumstances that led to an increase in music production and label activity. We had the opportunity to sit down with its founder to ask some questions about the trajectory of the label, the label’s growth, what most attributed to many strategic shifts throughout the years and the multitude of small yet impactful daily decisions.
What made you want to start Soave in the first place? Was there anything different you wanted to do with Soave that other labels weren’t or aren’t doing?
It started as a blog with playlists from the urge to do something useful with all those hours dedicated to personal music discovery. When artists started sending me songs for feedback and promotion, it turned into a label. It might’ve helped that these artists grew up on SoundCloud, and we were very active there. When we shifted the focus to Spotify, we opened a new world to our starting artists as well.
One with actual royalty payouts for the music they made.
Building an initial catalog can be hard. How did you find your initial artists to sign?
It’s never been an issue for us, because I’d built up a network just by writing about artists and supporting them on SoundCloud and social media. First, they came to me to give feedback on their demos, and later, they actually released them. Supporting an artist with engagement and content – nowadays maybe rather a TikTok video than a blog – is still something any starting label can do. Or just provide feedback to demo’s without expecting them to sign to you. Some of these artists might then be open to release with you later.
How big is the Soave team now, and how long did it take to build the label and hire your first employee?
Only a year after I dedicated myself full time to the label, Covid was really the catalyst for us. With more time on their hands, artists started producing more and we started working more, resulting in a fast growing team and roster. That growth never really stopped and we’ve now got a core team of 25 people. The team growth is still lagging behind the catalogue and roster growth a bit, so we’ll keep expanding.
What were some of the best business decisions you’ve made throughout Soave that have impacted the label’s growth and presence in the industry?
Our focus shift from SoundCloud to Spotify and its third party playlists made most of the growth possible. Other than that, we’ve not really made big decisions. I rather think it’s making all those small decisions right that makes the difference over time. Any work day is made up of tens of them: do we reject or release this demo, do we say yes or no to these terms, do we spend a few emails on connecting some artists, etc. It’s also about making them in time and communicating them properly. Being honest, flexible and fair to our artists. Making lots of good daily choices is what got us here.
Do you have any predictions about the music industry in 2024 and beyond, and if so, what are you doing behind the scenes in Soave to anticipate these changes?
We’ll be facing a generation raised on TikTok that might not use music streaming services as much, despite TikTok’s recent global “Add to Music App” rollout and its own streaming platform endeavours. Especially considering TikTok’s low payouts for music usage, that’s a threat to any DSP-minded label like Soave. We’re searching for ways to make our artists and music more resilient against that. It takes a lot of fans for an artist not to be dependent on a certain platform or media however, and not many reach that level. Meanwhile live music becomes bigger and bigger, but it’s still hard for most artists to get into it, and that’s also something we’re trying to help them with.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
